1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multi-layer flat cable electrical connector for terminating flat cables in a pluraliry of layers and its termination method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As electronic equipment has been made more compact and light-weight, and the density with which the conductors of a flat cable are arranged bocomes higher, there is a growing demand for a more compact electrical connector with many contacts arranged in high density to terminate such a high density flat cable. The inventors have already proposed an electrical connector for terminating a plurality of layers of flat cables each having a large number of conductors disposed side by side at a pitch of 1.27 mm (see Japanese Patent Kokai No. 60-167285).
Although the above multi-layer flat cable electrical connector has satisfied a high density mounting requirement it suffers from the following shortcomings.
(1) It has no means for securing attachment of a plurality of layers of flat cables to the insulating housing with many contacts so that an accidental pull applied to the cables is transmitted directly to the contacts, making the connection between the cables and the contacts unstable, causing noise or even breaking a conductor of the cables.
(2) A plurality of flat cables are terminated to a connector with a space between the adjacent cables so that the connector occupies a large space in the equipment and is difficult to plug in or out.
(3) It is necessary to terminate a plurlity of flat calbes to the correspondidng row of contacts layer by layer and it is impossible to terminate all flat cables at once, thus requiring a complex termination operation and increasing the unit manufacturing cost.